linkinparksuperfandomcom-20200214-history
Chester Bennington
March 30, 2013 - June 20, 2017 'C'hester Charles Bennington (March 20, 1976 – July 20, 2017) was an American musician, singer-songwriter and actor. He was best known as the co-lyricist and one of the two vocalists of the rock band Linkin Park and the vocalist of Dead by Sunrise. Bennington became known as a vocalist with Linkin Park's debut album, Hybrid Theory, in 2000, which was a massive commercial success. The album was certified Diamond by the RIAA in 2005, making it the best-selling debut album of the decade, as well as one of the few albums to ever hit that many sales. Linkin Park's following studio albums, Meteora, Minutes To Midnight, A Thousand Suns, and Living Things, released in 2003, 2007, 2010, and 2012 respectively, continued the band's success. Bennington formed his own band, Dead By Sunrise, as a side-project in 2005. The band's debut album, Out Of Ashes, was released on October 13, 2009. Linkin Park On October 24, 2000 Linkin Park released their debut album, Hybrid Theory, through Warner Bros. Records. Bennington and Shinoda wrote the lyrics to Hybrid Theory based on some early material. Shinoda characterized the lyrics as interpretations of universal feelings, emotions, and experiences, and as “everyday emotions you talk about and think about.” Bennington later described the songwriting experience to Rolling Stone magazine in early 2002: "It's easy to fall into that thing — 'poor, poor me', that's where songs like 'Crawling' come from: I can't take myself. But that song is about taking responsibility for your actions. I don't say 'you' at any point. It's about how '' I'm the reason that I feel this way. There's something inside me that pulls me down." '' - Chester Bennington, Rolling Stones Magazine, 2002 Personal Life Bennington has one child from a previous relationship with Elka Brand; Jamie. He also adopted her son Isaiah. Bennington married his first wife, Samantha Marie Olit, on October 31, 1996 but couldn't afford a wedding ring because they were poor. They had one child together, Draven Sebastian Bennington, who was born on April 19, 2002. Bennington’s relationship with his first wife declined during his early years with Linkin Park, and they divorced in 2005. After divorcing his first wife, Bennington married Talinda Ann Bentley, a former Playboy model, with whom he has three children, Tyler Lee Bennington and twins, Lily and Lila (born 2011). The wedding ceremony was custom designed and performed by Mary Jean Valente of "A Ceremony of the Heart". Bennington and his family live in a house in Gilbert, Arizona when he is not on tour. Chester and Talinda were harassed by a cyberstalker , Devon Townsend, for almost a year. Townsend was found guilty of tampering with the couple's email, as well as sending threatening messages, and was sentenced to two years in prison. Bennington is a tattoo enthusiast. Bennington has done work and promotions with Club Tattoo, a recognized tattoo parlour in Tempe, Arizona. Club Tattoo is owned by Sean Dowdell, Chester's friend since high school. They played together in two bands, "Sean Dowdell and his friends?" and "Grey Daze." He showed off his tattoos by posing shirtless for PETA's "Ink, Not Mink" anti-fur campaign. Health and Injuries Bennington has had medical issues outside of the limelight. He suffered a severe bite from arecluse spider while touring with the OzzFest in 2001. Bennington was plagued with poor health during the making of Meteora, and struggled to attend some of the album’s recording sessions. He fell ill during the summer of 2003, and eventually underwent surgery. Bennington sustained a wrist injury in October 2007 while attempting to jump off a platform during a show in Melbourne, Australia at the Rod Laver Arena. Despite the injury, he continued to perform the entire show with a broken wrist, before heading to the emergency room. He received 5 stitches. In 2011, Bennington fell ill again, and Linkin Park was forced to cancel three shows and reschedule two from the A Thousand Suns World Tour. Bennington injured his shoulder during the band's tour in Asia and was advised by doctors to have immediate surgery, cancelling their final show at Pensacola Beach, Florida and ending their tour. Bands *Sean Dowell and his friends?; - lead vocals (1990-1992) *Grey Daze - lead vocals, rhythm guitar (1992-1998) *Linkin Park - lead vocals, rhythm guitar, percussion (1996–present) *Dead by Sunrise - lead vocals, guitar, keyboard (2005–present) *Julien-K - production Filmography